In May 2024, I gratefully received an email from an Australian descendant of William and Matilda, named Jane Campton. Her email was appropriately titled, "William the Great Escaper."
Jane referenced Matilda's fortitude, stating, "The poor woman deserves some recognition. William and Matilda went on to have 10 children. The birthdates of the children (1840, 1841, 1844, 1846, 1848, 1850, 1852, 1855, 1857 and 1866) paint a portrait of a woman who is likely to have been completely overwhelmed with childcare." Looking at those dates, it's probably there were some miscarriages, or stillborn children.
So, it is with gratitude and great respect I include Jane Campton's biography of Mother Matilda.
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Matilda Dimmitt (Brown)
Matilda whose occupation on the list of passengers is described as housemaid, arrived in Botany Bay on the Lady Raffles in 1839. It departed from Plymouth on 13 May 1839 and arrived in New South Wales on 12 September 1839 with 236 bounty immigrants on board and a cargo of rum.
Matilda was a Bounty immigrant. Bounty immigrants were free immigrants whose passage was paid for by the government under the “bounty scheme”. Under this scheme, an incentive or reward was paid to recruiting agents in Britain to find suitable skilled labourers and trades people, then ship them out to the new colony which urgently needed the working-class people to do the manual labour.
Bounties were paid to the ship’s masters for the safe delivery of their passengers under the scheme. The typical bounty was £19 for an adult 5 for a child. Under the bounty scheme newly married couples or single men and women were given preference.
The British advertising of the 1830s was hard for women to resist “Tavel to Australia! Free passage is offered, lucrative work awaits and Sydney has five men to every woman”. So seductive was the promotional campaign that 3000 single free women voyaged to the colonies of New South Wales and Van Demons land to even up the gender balance.
However, disembarking wasn’t quite what the brochure is promised when they stopped stepped onto the pier in Sydney, they were met by 2000 men braying at them and jeering. They had to run the gauntlet of these men to get to their accommodation with barely half dozen police to protect them. Single and Free female immigration to Australia 1832-1837
The Australian Chronicle of 17 September 1839, with respect to the ship the Lady Raffles reported that
“The immigrants on the Lady Raffles which arrived on Thursday night, are on board alongside Walker’s wharf there being, no provision for the accommodation of bounty immigrants at government buildings. They arrived in good health with only one death that of an infant which occurred during the voyage, ---Yet there being no rendezvous or asylum provided for the bounty immigrants, as for those imported by the government, they must wander about in search of employment without money or friends, in a strange country often in utter destitution and hopeless misery, without a shelter or home, for months together, cursing the duplicity of those by whom they were enticed from their happy homes and connections to immigrate to an imaginary El Dorado, were upon their arrival they find the first theme of countless reflection the irreplaceable destruction of their fondly cherished but fallacious hopes. Thus, are they driven to despair to intemperance and dishonesty.” Bounty Immigrants of the Lady Raffles-Trove Australian Chronicle Sydney NSW 1839
Matilda had little time to search for work or to indulge in intemperance or dishonesty, as she is only one year after her arrival that she married William Dimmitt. My great, great grandmother Mary Esther born in Parramatta in 1841 was the first of their many children.
It might interest you to know to that Williams descendants include a licencing Magistrate and two County Court Judges. I wonder what William would have thought of that! I was one of those Judges (I am now retired) and the irony of having the convict William Dimmitt as my ancestor did escape me when I was sentencing offenders!!
- Jane Campton (May 17, 2024)
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